LARRY SNYDER

Lawrence "Larry" Snyder, USA head coach at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games having been assistant head for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, coached among others Jesse Owens, Dave Albritton, Glenn Davis, and Mal Whitfield.

Snyder, who studied at Ohio State University, had been an outstanding sprint hurdler until an air crash robbed him of his chance to compete at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games, after which he took to coaching.

He returned to Ohio State as head track & field coach from 1932-42 and then again from 1946-65.

Snyder’s athletes won eight Olympic gold medals and set 14 world records.

Owens having set 4 world records in 45 minutes in Ann Arbor in 1935, went on famously to win four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. At those same Games, Albritton who had set a world record in the high jump at the US Olympic trails took the Olympic silver in Berlin.

Davis set the first of his three career world records in the 400m Hurdles when winning the 1956 Olympic Trials in Los Angeles. In November of that year he took the first of his two Olympic gold medals. He retained his title in Rome in 1960 in an Olympic record.

Whitfield, the 1948 and 1952m Olympic 800m champion, claimed a third Olympic title as part of the USA 4x400m relay team in Helsinki. Like Synder’s three other star pupils, Whitfield was also a world record breaker. He set the 800m record twice first in 1950 and improved his record three years later.

Born 9 August 1896 in Canton, Ohio, Snyder died on 25 September 1982, aged 86.